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Chris Bergin, editor of the independent Web site NASASpaceFlight.com, recently unearthed a confidential NASA study of emergency egress systems (EES) in which the authors recommended using mini railcars, docked at the top of a 350-foot-tall launch tower, to speed crews down a track to ground level in a heart-pumping 4.5 seconds.

If you're imagining astronauts screaming "Whee!" inside their helmets with their gloved hands in the air, you're not far off: Roller-coaster engineers served as consultants on the design, Bergin says.

Other escape plans under consideration include a faster version of the current EES for space-shuttle flights -- baskets suspended from cables, which astronauts have, thankfully, never had to use -- as well as a high-speed elevator and a "slide tube."

Can you imagine something like that a theme park? I think that the lines would be some what shorter because the ride will be over in 4.5 seconds. But it would probably be dangerous as well. One thing for sure is that I would definitely do it for the hell of it.

But it is good to know that NASA is always working to improve their science, and is always creating new safety measures. It is good to know that if something goes wrong, they have a way to fix it.